Pipe-wrench.



No. 658,962. Patented Oct. 2', I900. T. E. RYAN. PIPE WRENCH.

(Application filed Oct. 11, 1899.)

(No Model.)

IIIIIIII IIIFIIIITIHILIIJIMEHI- UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS E. RYAN, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

PIPE-WRENCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 658,962, dated. October 2, 1900'.

Application filed October 11, 1899. Serial No. 733,307. [No model.)

- Wrenches, of which the following is a specification.

' This invention relates to improvements made on the Letters Patent of the United States, dated May 15, 1888, No. 382,799; and the same has for its object chiefly to simplify the construction of the wrench, to increase its durability, and to materially reduce the cost of manufacture.

To this end and object the presentimprovements consist in the described construction and combination of shank, fixed j aw,and movable jaw, together with certain specific construction of parts, as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof.

One novel feature of this improved construction consists in making the fixed jaw a separate and separable piece from the shank,

and it includes means of attaching and holding the jaw in place on the shank, whereby the piece can be separated when it becomes worn and a new jaw substituted for it. Another feature relates to the manner of attaching the hinged latch to the shank so as to obtain a strong joint to withstand the strains and rough usage which a tool of this character is called upon to bear. These features, together with the manner in which I construct and apply the same in the production of a pipe-wrench, are explained and set forth at length in the following description and the drawings therein referred to.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a side view of a pipe wrench embodying these improvements; Fig. 2, a side view, on an enlarged scale, of the head or working end of the tool, showing the fixed and the movable jaw with parts broken away to show the construction more clearly. Figs. 3 and 3 are side views in detail of the head of the shank and the separable jaw. Fig. 4 is a top view of that portion of the shank shown in Fig. 3. Fig. at is a front view of the separable jaw shown in Fig. 3*. Fig. 5 is a side view of the latch detached from the, shank, and Fig. 6 is a top View of the same piece.

The shank of the toolis a flat bar having a straight head portion a, on the end of which the fixed jaw eis located, and a tapering handle portion p, formed by a straight prolongation of the broader head.

The shank is a solid bar finished with a quarter-round, but transversely-flat, faceron the end, in the middle of which is a deep mortise k. The separable jaw e, secured to this end of the shank, has the same curvature as the face 0" and is fitted thereto, so as to have a solid bearing upon all parts of that surface. On the dished back of the separable jaw and standing perpendicularly from it is a tongue], fitting into the mortise and secured by a crosspin to, that is inserted through the side of the shank and the tongue. This fastening prevents the jaw e from dropping OE and from shifting laterally on its seat; butit is so fitted in the mortise that the forces of pressures which the jaw is required to sustain when in use are removed from the tongue and cross-pin and are thrown entirely upon the solid bearing-faces r and s. This I consider an important feature in the present improvement as contributing to the strength and durability of the tool, and by virtue of which also the point of contact and greatest pressure between the gripping-surface of the jaw and the pipe in its grasp is situated on a line to which the solid bearing-surface on the shank is always perpendicular whatever the diameter of the pipe may be.

The latch-piece m, that closes the open ends of the sockets h h to confine the pin of the movable jaw bin its socket, is attached at the forward end to the shank by a hinge-joint, which is constructed to dispense with therib or detent in the opposite end of the latch heretofore employed on that end to hold the latch in position against lateral strains.

In this improvement the bar forming the latch has two ears or knuckles n n, standing perpendicularly to and parallel with the sides of the bar, and the side faces of the head are recessed, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, at '21 to let in the ears flush with those faces, the edges of the recesses being finished on circles concentric with the hinge-pin, so that the ears will turn smoothly therein. This construction produces a strong joint that will resist the lateral strains to which the latch is ordinarily subjected in the use of the tool, and in connection with the pivoted catch u it serves to hold the latch m in position.

Among the advantages gained from these improvements attention is directed to the ma-. terial reduction in the cost of manufacture secured by making the shank of the tool of a cheaper kind or quality of metal than the separable jaw.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a wrench of the character described the combination with the movable jaw, and a solid shank having a handle portion atone end and a gripping-jaw at the other end, of a quadrant-shaped face on the jaw-bearing end, a detachable jaw fitted thereto, said jaw having a serrated outer face and a smooth inner face of the same curvature as the face on the end of the shank and on which the said jaw has a solid bearing for the entire extent of the sfirface, a mortise in the middle of the bearingsurface on the end of the shank, a fixed tongue on the curved inner face of the jaw standing perpendicularly thereto and taking into the mortise, and a cross-pin inserted through the shank and the tongue and holding said curved faces in positive contact as described.

2. The herein-described pipe-wrench comprising the shank having a fixed jaw and provided with a series of open sockets along one edge and a pair of circular recesses in its opposite sides forward of said series, a movable jaw having a hinge-pin adapted to fit the open sockets, a latch-bar having ears of circular shape at its front end entering said recesses flush with the sides of the shank and fitted to turn therein, and a latch adapted to lock the rear end of the bar to the shank, the whole constructed substantially as set forth.

3. The herein-described pipe-wrench comprising the straight shank having a handle portion at one end and a fixed jaw on the other end, and provided with spaced open sockets along one edge between the jaw and the bandle, a movable jaw havinga hook-shaped grippin g-face of greater degree of curvature than the fixed jaw and having a hinged pin fitted to the open sockets, and the latch-bar having ears of circular shape on one end standing perpendicularly from one side of the bar, and recesses of corresponding shape in the opposite sides of the shank in which said ears are let in flush with the sides of the shank and are fitted to turn, and a hinge-pin inserted through the ears, and a latch adapted to lock the free end of the bar, constructed for operation as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand and seal.

THOS. E. RYAN. [L. s.]

\Vitnesses:

HARRY J. LASK, JOSEPH DOLAN. 

